


kicking and screaming

by bazookajo94



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Yakuza, High School, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Medicated Andrew Minyard, No Smut, Raven Andrew Minyard, but it's dark and scary in here, dark themes, raise wa tanin ga ii AU, rated m for mature, still kinda funny tho lol, these two boys are insane and in love, toxic atmosphere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:29:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28735758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bazookajo94/pseuds/bazookajo94
Summary: Neil slapped today’s newspaper on Wymack’s desk and said, “You want me to what now?”Wymack didn’t bother looking up from his work when he said, “What part of the article was unclear.”“The part where it says, ‘Neil Josten will marry into the Raven’s syndicate.’”
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 26
Kudos: 233





	kicking and screaming

Kevin came into Andrew’s room with an envelope and a bottle of pills. Andrew laughed at the envelope, laughed at the pills, laughed at the look on Kevin’s face.

“Maybe this time,” Andrew sang, popping two pills and swallowing them into his already drugged body.

“Riko says this one will probably last. His real dad is Wesninski,” Kevin said. He ripped into the envelope and dropped the pile of papers into Andrew’s lap: high school transcripts, notes on Nathaniel’s time with the Wesninskis before the Foxes purchased the Wesninski heir for one million dollars, and a photograph.

“Curious why the Foxes spent so much to buy a meek little boy,” Andrew mused, tracing the outline of Neil Josten’s, formerly Nathaniel Wesninski’s, face.

“It doesn’t matter. He was supposed to be a Raven.”

Andrew laughed. Andrew hated when he laughed. “And he will be at last! Tell Riko I’ll be there for this one.” Andrew looked down again at the bored expression on Neil Josten’s face, his boring brown hair, his boring brown eyes. “He looks like he might take a little while to break.”

Kevin nodded before collecting the papers and the pills. He left Andrew sitting in his room, staring out the window and fiddling with a lighter. Riko wouldn’t let him have any cigarettes.

*

Neil slapped today’s newspaper on Wymack’s desk and said, “You want me to what now?”

Wymack didn’t bother looking up from his work when he said, “What part of the article was unclear.”

“The part where it says, ‘Neil Josten will marry into the Raven’s syndicate.’”

“I thought that part was pretty clear.”

“I don’t want to marry anyone.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

Neil huffed and sat on the chair across Wymack’s desk. He was very familiar with this chair. He was often in it, being glared down by Wymack for some infraction or other when Neil didn’t behave like he was supposed to now that he was free from his father.

Neil started dawdling with the baubles on Wymack’s desk: a stress ball, some pens, a folded paper crane made by Dan. “Why are you even trying to unite the Foxes and Ravens, anyways?” he asked. “We hate the Ravens.”

“The Ravens have people we need to protect. And it’s high time this rivalry ended.”

Neil started scribbling a quote into the back of his hand. “Protect?” he asked. He couldn’t imagine there was any Raven good enough to want to protect.

Wymack threw another pen to knock the pen Neil was using out of his hand just as he finished the last word of his quote: _send out the sun, god, send out the light._ “Stop arguing with me,” Wymack said. “You’re marrying Riko Moriyama. You’re going to the Nest in a week to scope out the place and make sure it’s manageable for someone like you to reasonably live. You’re going to stop reading V.C. Andrews.”

Neil raised a surprised brow that Wymack had recognized the quote. “You read Andrews?”

Wymack didn't confirm nor deny. “Get the fuck out of my office,” he said before returning to his work.

Neil got the fuck out of his office.

*

Neil was unimpressed with the Nest. It was big, sure, and intimidating, fine, but the same could be said about most things in Neil’s life. The scariest thing about the Nest so far were the people who had picked up Neil at the airport: a tall man with the number two tattooed under his eye that introduced himself as Kevin, and a short man with a weird smile on his face that introduced himself with a laugh, just a laugh, and he didn’t shake Neil’s hand.

Neil saw Aaron’s face when he looked at the blond man with the glassy eyes and unhinged smile, and he saw Wymack’s face when he looked at Kevin, and Neil now knew what he was doing at the Nest, why he had to marry Riko, who he had to protect.

That still didn’t make it any easier when Riko finally came to greet him. He wore a snake’s smile and the number one under his eye, and he pulled Neil into a tight hug. He held Neil’s hand as they walked through the premises, giving Neil a tour of where he’d be staying if he decided to agree to the arranged marriage and the alliance.

“What’s up with Kevin and his protégé?” Neil asked Riko at the conclusion of the tour, in the tea room, being served tea. Kevin and his protégé were in the room with them, standing by the door, guarding against something.

“It’s the other way around,” Riko said, a bit bitter, and Neil frowned and looked back at the pair. It did not look like Kevin’s companion should be in charge of anything. He barely looked in charge of himself. 

“Is it?” Neil asked, dubious.

Kevin’s protégé looked at Neil, still a bit manic, and started to laugh.

“Oh, yes,” he said, the first words he’d spoken since they picked Neil up from the airport. “Oh, yes, Neil Josten. I knew you would be fun. You won’t break too fast, will you?” The man cocked his head. Kevin looked uncomfortable. Riko looked pissed.

Neil ignored the man’s manic smile.

*

Neil went back to the Foxes a week later.

“Well?” Wymack asked. He was at his desk. Neil was in the chair across from him.

“I’ll do it,” Neil said. “But first tell me why your son is in that godforsaken place and tell me why Aaron’s brother looks drugged to high water.”

“That’s not how the metaphor goes.” Wymack was stalling. Interesting. When Neil just stared, Wymack sighed and said, “Kevin doesn’t know I’m his father. Aaron doesn’t know he has a brother. Andrew reached out to me weeks ago and asked me to get him out, with the promise of a son I didn’t know I had. Apparently Riko has been keeping Andrew drugged up since he joined the syndicate to keep him in line.”

“How long has he been there?”

Wymack said, a bit grim, “Long enough.”

Neil sighed. “When do I officially move in to the Nest? When’s the wedding?”

“You’ll get married as soon as you can look at Riko’s face without wanting to punch it.”

“So, never.”

“Go live with him a while. Finish high school. Marry the bastard. Get my people out. Then I don’t give a shit what you do.” 

*

Three months later, Neil came to live with the Ravens. He put himself on his best behavior, and kept his hair dyed brown and his eyes covered by contacts—also brown—so that he wouldn’t draw attention to himself. He played meek and hopeless when he was around any of the Ravens—especially Riko, especially Kevin, especially Andrew—and he didn’t try too hard to do anything at all.

The Ravens were a lot like the Wesninskis, and Neil knew how to play that game: keep his head down, keep out of the way, and no one would wake him up in the middle of the night with a knife between his ribs.

*

Today was boring.

Andrew was bored.

“I’m bored,” Andrew said.

“What do you expect me to do about it?” Kevin asked, not looking up from his homework. Andrew, grinning (he didn’t like when he grinned), pulled out his lighter.

“Go make Neil Josten do something interesting,” Andrew said.

Andrew had had high hopes of the new marriage candidate for Riko—for Neil to do something interesting, to cause a stir, to force Andrew to act, to make Andrew do something. But Neil Josten went to school, went home, hardly spoke, didn’t look anyone in the eye, apologized when he got in someone’s way, said his “pleases,” said his “thank yous,” said his “ope, sorry, excuse me, coming throughs.” He even smiled politely at Riko, which was the only suspicious thing he’d done so far.

Andrew’s new toy had turned out to be a wooden block: boring, predictable, and unnecessary to break. Andrew didn’t like it. He was bored.

He expected more. He should have known better. 

“He’s been here two months,” Kevin said. “If he hasn’t done anything interesting so far, I doubt he’s going to just because I make him come see you.”

Andrew pouted. He hated when he pouted. Kevin shifted, and the rattle of Andrew’s pills in his pocket suddenly sounded too loud in the quiet room. Andrew flicked open his lighter and dragged Kevin’s homework closer to the edge of the table so he could light it.

Kevin yanked the page back before the fire caught and scowled and reprimanded. Andrew sighed, not listening. He was bored.

Andrew hated when he was bored.

*

Neil had heard some questionable screams at a nameless hour in the night, so he crept out of his room and found Riko Moriyama squeezing through the front door of the main house covered in blood, flanked by Kevin and Andrew. 

Neil didn’t try to hide from the men as they came inside, but Riko and Kevin didn’t notice him, anyways. They walked right down the hall to the bathroom, Riko stripping out of his shirt, Kevin doing the same, complaining about midnight calls, when Andrew stopped in the middle of the hall and looked right at Neil.

His expression was blank, no glassy eyes, no twitchy movements. Neil took this time to study a sober Andrew, but there wasn’t much to see other than utter and complete apathy and an unblinking gaze focused right on Neil.

Neil stared back until Riko called Andrew’s name. He watched as Andrew’s hand clenched into a tight fist, once, before he uncurled his fingers and went to find Riko.

Neil went back to bed. 

*

The next day, when Neil was eating breakfast with Riko before school, Andrew stole a link of sausage off his plate.

“Oh,” Neil said, watching as Andrew’s hand slipped away with its bounty.

Andrew smiled at Neil as he took a bite.

“Um,” Neil said, trying not to glare.

“Andrew,” Riko snapped, and Andrew laughed.

“Sorry,” he said, not sorry. “Did you want it back?” He held up the half-eaten sausage link to Neil’s lips. Neil wanted to take a bite. He did not.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind,” Neil said, minding. Andrew smiled around a bite of sausage.

*

The next day, as Riko’s driver drove them all to school, Andrew sprawled his body against the side of Neil’s in the backseat and blew in his ear.

“Uh,” Neil said, clenching his fists at his sides so he wouldn’t push Andrew away.

“Andrew, Jesus,” Kevin hissed. Riko watched with cool eyes.

Andrew, mouth still close to Neil’s ear, laughed, loud and long. Neil didn’t flinch.

*

Andrew came to intercept Neil and Riko during their “get to know you” time with a deck of cards and said, “Best two out of three?” 

Riko glared at Andrew while Neil said, “We haven’t even played one.” 

Andrew smacked his forehead like he’d forgotten. “Right, right! What games are you good at, Fox?” 

“Raven,” Riko immediately corrected. 

“Nothing,” Neil said, blandly, to both Andrew’s question and Riko’s assumption. Andrew grinned like he knew. 

“How about Go Fish?” Andrew said. 

“How about Go Fuck Yourself?” Neil didn’t say, but wished he could. He snuck a glance at Riko, who was still furious at Andrew’s interruption. “Sure,” he said, like a good little almost-fiancé.

Riko turned his murderous intent to Neil. “Where’s Kevin?” he asked Andrew, not turning from Neil. Neil stared blankly back. 

Andrew said, “I imagine he is chockablock with alcohol, oh master mine.” He began dealing the cards, one-two-three, in front of Neil, Riko, and himself. 

“Go get him,” Riko said. 

“But the game!” Andrew exclaimed. 

“Get out,” Riko said. 

Neil watched. Andrew snuck a glance at Neil and grinned. Neil didn’t smile back. 

*

“You’ve got to leave Neil alone.” 

“Why, Kevin, I didn’t know you cared about our guest.” 

“I don’t, but if you keep getting in Riko’s way, you’re going to get hurt.” 

“Why, Kevin, two for two! Who knew there were so many people in the world you cared about? And here I was thinking you only cared about yourself.” 

“I do care about myself. If I lose you, I’ll be here all alone.” 

“Can’t bear to lose another like Jean, eh, old boy? Poor Kevin, all alone.” 

“Stop it. Shut up. Stop getting in Riko’s way.” 

“Or what?” 

“Or else.” 

*

Neil hadn’t realized that Riko had reached his breaking point until Riko took Neil shopping one night, and as they walked the streets, Riko veered them off into an alleyway and shoved Neil against a wall. 

Neil thought one thing was going to happen that he wasn’t ready for when he glimpsed two Ravens emerge from the shadows behind Riko—not Andrew and Kevin—and realized that another thing was actually going to happen. 

“You wouldn’t hit your fiancé, would you?” Neil asked. He tensed his muscles in preparation. He might lose this fight, but he was still going to be an active participant. 

“Is that what you are? With all this flirting with the Monster, I thought perhaps you had forgotten.” 

“I had not,” Neil said, but it was too late. Riko was already swinging, and Neil was already too slow. 

*

Riko left him slumped against the wall in the alley, bleeding but not broken, not completely. Riko kicked at one of Neil’s legs, sprawled and lifeless, and said, “I had meant to keep you. You were meant to be mine when you still belonged to your father, but then the Foxes go you first. You are far too tainted now. But a deal’s a deal, right, Wesninski?” Neil had thought he was over it, but his body still betrayed him in the end: Neil flinched. Riko laughed. “Oh, sure, call yourself whatever you want now. But we all know your roots, don’t we, Junior?” Riko laughed again. 

The other Ravens, the ones who had punched Neil’s ribs and bruised Neil’s knuckles, had left at Riko’s order. It had been Neil and Riko in the alley, alone, for a while now. 

“Now, the way I see it, there are two options for you,” Riko went on. “You could go back to the Foxes, beaten and battered, and incite a war between my brother and your adoptive father. It’s what I want, really. There was never going to be an alliance. Naturally, this way will lead to your demise, along with everyone you care about.” 

Riko began pacing in front of Neil, hands behind his back, back straight like a diplomat. He continued, “The second option, though, is much more beneficial to the both of us. I’ve had time, see, since you’ve been here, to study what’s so great about you that the Coach would buy you for a million dollars. Personally, I don’t see it. Maybe the pretty face? A nice body?” Riko chuckled, kicking at Neil’s leg again as he passed by in his pacing. “Since you are already mine, and your body belongs to me, and our marriage won’t do me any favors anymore, I think it only fitting that you use your body to the best of its abilities.” 

Riko stopped pacing. He crouched in front of Neil, who had bitten his tongue at some point during the fight and had nothing to say around a mouthful of blood. Without warning, Riko reached out and grasped Neil’s chin, hard, and said, “With a body like yours, maybe five hundred a night? A thousand? I’ll let you work out the details at the shop, but by the end of the month I’m sure you could rake in, say, thirty-thousand?” Neil glared at Riko. 

“Does that sound about how much you’re worth, sweetheart?” Riko crooned, and then he let go of Neil’s chin, stood up, and whistled his way out of the alley. 

Neil spat out the blood welling up in his mouth and wiped his chin. 

*

“What.” 

“I want out.” 

“You can’t get out.” 

“Riko is a psychopath.” 

“You’re a psychopath.” 

“At least I have class about it.” 

“You’re not leaving until it’s over, Neil. That’s the deal.” 

“I want a new deal.” 

“There isn’t one. Don’t call me again until you’re married.” 

*

Neil fumed on a park bench in the middle of the night in front of a sad little fountain at a sad little park. He hated everyone in the world in that moment: his dad (because he always hated his dad), Wymack, Riko, Andrew, Kevin, himself. But mostly Riko. And mostly himself. 

Because Neil knew that, even though it would be so easy to run, he had been bought and paid for, squared away, safe and sound, by David Wymack, and the Foxes. He did make a deal, and not the deal to the Ravens to marry Riko Moriyama; he had made a deal with Wymack and the Foxes to stop running, to stand his ground, to live. 

Neil clicked his tongue, flipping open his phone in resignation. Fine. He’d stand his ground. But Wymack was right about one thing: Neil was a bit of a psychopath himself. 

He dialed. 

“ _Hello?_ ” someone answered on the other line. 

“Hey. It’s me.” 

“ _Junior? Shit, fuck, dammit, dammit. What the fuck do you want, kid?_ ” 

“I need a favor. How much time you got?” 

*

Andrew fiddled with his lighter. He hated when he fiddled with his lighter.

He watched, from high up in the rafters of the warehouse, as Riko worked, blood and torture, violent and laughing.

Kevin, at the risk of punishment, joined Andrew from on up high. It was late—or early—and Andrew’s drugs were wearing thin, almost out. The only thing keeping his heart beating was the thought of the ground below, so far, so cold, and the thought of the look on Riko’s face when Andrew finally killed him. 

“Where do you think he went?” Kevin asked. He was not watching Riko work. His face was pale, probably from the height, from the thought of down below.

“It doesn’t matter,” Andrew said. Neil had been gone for two weeks, not a word, not a sound. All of his stuff was still in his room.

“Maybe Riko killed him,” Kevin mused. “Even Riko tires of the meek eventually.”

Andrew remained silent. It was the only part of himself he could tolerate: the silence. He wished it would last.

But Andrew hated when he wished.

*

Three weeks after Neil had disappeared from the Nest, he came back. He sauntered through the halls of his high school, carrying a sparkly black gift bag, and went to Riko’s first class of the day—English Literature. He found Riko sitting at his desk in the middle of the classroom, waiting for the bell to ring, Andrew sitting on top of a desk beside him, Kevin on the other side of Riko, reading his book, studious. 

Neil thought Andrew would laugh when he first saw him, but when Andrew looked up, all he did was stare at Neil for two seconds, taking him in, before he grinned. His drugged energy, constant and buzzing, noticeably stopped. He looked tense for a fight. Neil, like he had been wanting to do all these months staying at the Nest, finally returned Andrew’s manic smile.

Riko looked up at Andrew’s still presence, and then he turned to Neil. Riko also tensed at the sight of Neil: brown hair cut and dyed back to its natural auburn, contacts removed and burned so his icy blue eyes could intimidate with the best of them. Kevin stared up at Neil like he’d just seen a ghost.

“Nathaniel,” Riko said coolly as Neil pulled out the empty seat in front of Riko and straddled it.

“Neil,” Neil corrected lightly.

“Nothing,” Andrew chirped, and Neil, still grinning, turned the full weight of himself to Andrew and saluted, two fingers tapped to his temple, before looking back to Riko. Andrew laughed.

“I thought you left,” Riko said, voice tight.

“I did. But don't you find it was strange none of the Foxes came for retaliation?”

Riko, still apprehensive, slowly sat back in his seat. “I had wondered about that. If the little boy didn’t run home, where did he go?”

Neil braced his elbows on the back of his chair and cradled his face, humming. “Now, see, it’s like you said, right, Riko? The only way for me to be useful to you is by using my face and selling my body.” Neil stopped holding his face so he could reach down for his gift bag. Standing, he dropped the bag on Riko’s desk and said, “So I did sell my body. One kidney: thirty thousand dollars.”

Riko stared down at the money in the bag. Andrew stopped smiling. Kevin looked sick.

Neil crossed his arms and brought one finger up and tapped his chin, smiling. “It’s a bit much for a black market organ, I’ll admit, but when you know a guy, you know a guy, am I right?” Neil turned to Andrew, who was still and silent, hands resting on his forearms. Neil said his next words to Riko while staring right at Andrew: “It would be so nice and easy to go back to the Foxes. But we’re not here for easy, right, darling?” Andrew stared back at Neil. Neil winked.

“You—” Riko started, and then he gestured for Andrew and Kevin to stand up, to do something, and Kevin rose like an old man out of a comfy chair, and Andrew braced one foot on the ground but didn’t stand. He still wasn’t smiling. He looked almost sober.

Neil put his palms on Riko’s desk and leaned forward, addressing him, addressing all of them, and said, “Listen here, little Ravens. However decent a life I could have lived, I won’t be getting a decent death. So even if I have to crawl across the floor, choking on my own blood, I will drag you down to hell with me. I will fuck you up.”

As Neil straightened, he relished in the look on Riko’s face: pale, furious, frightened. Kevin still looked sick. Andrew hadn’t looked away from Neil since he walked in. Andrew was standing now, and Riko was standing, and Kevin was holding his hands into fists, but probably not for any reason that Neil needed to worry about.

Still, Neil knew the beginnings of a fight when he saw one. He took two steps back, saying, “Don’t worry, Riko. I think we can make this marriage work. With a face like yours?” He grinned. “You could maybe make, say, five hundred a night? A thousand? I’ll let your people work that out—” Neil was laughing, even as Riko lunged across his desk for Neil’s throat, but before his fingers could curl around Neil’s neck, Andrew was standing in front of him and holding Riko’s wrists, and he was laughing again. Neil, startled, delighted, brushed light fingers on the small of Andrew’s back, which the man in front of him leaned into.

Riko struggled for just a moment before realizing he couldn’t break free of Andrew’s hold. “Picking sides, Monster?” Riko spat. Kevin stood in the middle of it all, unable to stand behind Riko, unable to flee to Neil.

“Yes,” Andrew said, his tone light, and then in a move so quick no one could stop it, Andrew twisted until he broke one of Riko’s wrists. He laughed as Riko yowled. “I am.” 

**Author's Note:**

> -this is based on the first chapter of the manga raise wa tanin ga ii  
> -neils speech at the end is from the manga (neil is yoshino u can't change my mind)  
> -as much as I wanted neil to drop the bag of money on andrews desk and walk tf out, andrew cannot be kirishima as it is Impossible for me to write andreil in a toxic relationship  
> -will not be continuing this because it is Too Much. i wrote this for fun, because i thought it'd be funny to make neil sell his kidney and for andrew to be like "he's the one ❤" but i hope i never have to write this toxic again. i hate riko.
> 
> thank u for reading i love you


End file.
